How scopable and manageable is "adjacent off piste" in the area. Is access to Punta indren an option for unguided but competent people or a bit of a no goe. Are there any drop-in guided groups available?
For reference there is skiing on the main routes in La Grave that i'd be comfortable skiing solo if necessary and places that I definitely wouldn't want to go without someone who had micro knowledge.
Last edited by Poster: A snowHead on Thu 7-11-19 19:02; edited 1 time in total
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Gressoney and the larger area is superb arguably the best. Normally quiet except at weekends. Lots of great real estate. Some very straightforward without crevasses etc. so doable without a guide. The Indren lift is one gateway.
Generally plenty of tracks and other people about sometimes the off gets a little battered.
There are guides and also heli skiing. Anything specific, please ask.
Last edited by Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person on Thu 7-11-19 16:01; edited 1 time in total
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
@Dave of the Marmottes, I think you’d find plenty to do within your criteria. Haven’t been in years but both sides of Punta Indren have doable options; they also have much spicier options. I would not recommend going up there unless you have good visibility though. Would be very easy to get properly lost
Even if you don’t bother with Punta Indren there is list of fun stuff to do from Passo Salati both down to Alagna and Stafal
@Dave of the Marmottes, Indren is the major gateway to most of the high terrain on Monte Rosa.
Infinity doable for competent skiers without guides, Canale dell' Aquila in the middle of the posted descent can get super mogal-ed which can undo some but is a beautiful introduction to what I consider to be the shining stars of Monte Rosa, the canales, couloirs, canyons whatever.
You can also drop into the Indren bowl under the Salati lift, use the pole numbers as reference going up (I would tell you my favourites but then I would have to kill you) the lower number tend to be less exposed, remember to scope on you first descent from indren viewed best once on the road after the hippy refuge (look for the out of place cable car) further up you can enter right out of the Indren lift on skiers left under Stolemberg or straign down the middle, sometimes a little technical on the in and prone release from above if freshly powdered. Generally not really too exposed and you would be unlucky to find yourself walking back out. Scope from front of lift on way up.
There are plenty of out variations depending on conditions but safest way out is to follow the track out back onto the Salati piste.
The other two lower itineraries from Indren with multiple options are Salsa and Balma but first time I would recommend guidance as very patchy phone signal in both and you are out of eye from the resort also unless familiar you might spend more time than you would wish finding the outs.
Standing at the Salati unload, look at the nearest peak to your right in front of Salati piste you will see a track, accessible from just above the black, this is the high entry into col d'Olen. Traverse around the peak and you will come into the col d Olen above the piste, drop or traverse as far as the Giacchetti out, best scope from the piste first. There are some shorter challenging lines skiers left off the Olen piste as well, look back up after turning the steep left turn for fun and games.
Try Punta Jolanda for something a little different, variations abound viewers right and under the Seehorn lift, just a big playground ... do remember the deep channel under the lift by the piste.
To get in high to the area ski Chamois a couple of times (it has flats and ups so charge first eyeballing right) there are a few entries along here, just a couple of hundred meters and you will be in view of the resort again.
If truly poor Viz ski the trees under the Seehorn lift, enter under lift and piste intersection, right of lift can get tasty and a pillow line that has broken both my wrists in a oner, keep left or under the lift and you will return to the bottom of Seehorn lift or back onto the see horn piste. It is possible to also traverse into the lower part from skiers left on the steep section on the Ricka piste.
There are other steeper cliffy tree lines with deep bear pits skiers left high off the Jolanda black but I will leave you to find these for obvious reasons, enter lower down when the black becomes red for less exposed tree lines. All lines return to the home run
So, there you have just a few of the low lying fruits, not wildly technical and comfortingly within sight of the resort and mostly viewable from the lifts, as ever check the conditions before, remember to look up as there a few of these lines have cliffs above which do release if freshly powdered.
It is snowing right, right now, please may it continue so we can all stop fantasising and start skiing. Have fun.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Cool thanks - just looking at the topo on the app looks like I might have a goer even if I don't persuade anyone to join me
@Dave of the Marmottes, You only need this book. Polvere Rosa - Freeski am Monte Rosa by Andrea Gallo (1-Jan-2014) Perfect Paperback. I had an earlier edition and used it for the 3 years I lived there. Awesome routes including the canales @Super Steezy, talks about. You can order a copy through one of the links on this page: https://www.alagna.it/en/winter/off-piste-skiing-italy/. Much of the routes in here are lift accessible but it it also covers the big favourites that require a little bit of effort.
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
Then you can post your own questions or snow reports...
@Super Steezy thanks for that info, it's just what I've been looking for! I'm heading to Monte Rosa in Jan and can't wait for some off-piste action! I was wondering if you (or anyone else) knows if there are places in Stafal that hire out avalanche safety equipment, or would you say I'd be better off hiring it in the UK before I leave and bringing it with me?
Super Steezy wrote:
There are other steeper cliffy tree lines with deep bear pits skiers left high off the Jolanda black.
Also, sorry, new member here - what do you mean by 'deep bear pits'?
Last edited by Then you can post your own questions or snow reports... on Mon 2-12-19 17:19; edited 1 time in total
After all it is free
After all it is free
@Super Steezy, was there yesterday. Have never seen so much snow this early in the season. Quite remarkable. Easily 2-2.5 m higher up. Quite fluffy.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
@yukiotoko, you can rent it at Tako Sport in Champoluc
Ski the Net with snowHeads
Ski the Net with snowHeads
@mooney058 Great! Thanks
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
yukiotoko wrote:
[b]
Also, sorry, new member here - what do you mean by 'deep bear pits'?
It not a thing, except in my head...big boulders form steep sided holes that remind me of etchings of old bear baiting pits... not good to get stuck in
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
@Super Steezy Ah yeah I didn't think it sounded fun! Cheers.
Is the tree skiing pretty open and accessible in Gressoney, for example the trees under the Seehorn lift? Most of my skiing experience has been in Japan where for access to the good stuff the odd rope needs to be ducked on occasion so I'm wondering what it's like in Italy.
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
So if you're just off somewhere snowy come back and post a snow report of your own and we'll all love you very much
@yukiotoko, no ropes in Italy, but when you see yellow—black poles ( or rope indeed!) then stay away from it - it is meant to keep you away from serious danger
You know it makes sense.
You know it makes sense.
@mooney058 Yellow-black poles as boundary markers or around a feature?
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
No ropes in Italy...the terrain is more varied than in Japan with maybe the exception of Teine and some of the more alpine Honshu resorts.
Seehorn is fairly benign but do scope it first, as I said before proceed with caution over the ridge skiers right of the lift...there are some...challenging... pitches
Souvenir of feeding the stoke and not watching the terrain....
Poster: A snowHead
Poster: A snowHead
@yukiotoko, If you are in Gressoney you can hire ave gear from Ambaradanspitz in Stafal they have load as they normally hire kit to the Guidemonterosa heliskiers and you know they might have a few going spare after the poo-poo show up on the Rutor glacier earlier this year
@mooney058 Yellow-black poles as boundary markers or around a feature?
mostly around a feature but strangely enough (hope my memory serves me right and am not mixing resorts) I think I saw roped area under Seehorn lift without any obvious obstacles/features.
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Super Steezy wrote:
@yukiotoko, If you are in Gressoney you can hire ave gear from Ambaradanspitz in Stafal they have load as they normally hire kit to the Guidemonterosa heliskiers and you know they might have a few going spare after the poo-poo show up on the Rutor glacier earlier this year
Thanks for the tip about Ambaradanspitz, we're staying in Stafal so it'd be nice and convenient. But Jesus Christ how did that plane/heli crash happen?!
mooney058 wrote:
mostly around a feature but strangely enough (hope my memory serves me right and am not mixing resorts) I think I saw roped area under Seehorn lift without any obvious obstacles/features.
So despite not seeing any obvious signs of danger you'd still definitely keep out because it was roped off and they don't rope it off for nothing?
@mooney058 Yellow-black poles as boundary markers or around a feature?
mostly around a feature but strangely enough (hope my memory serves me right and am not mixing resorts) I think I saw roped area under Seehorn lift without any obvious obstacles/features.
Isn't the roped off area under the Seehorn around a sink-hole? Could just be big gaps between huge boulders but either way didn't look like somewhere you'd want to find yourself.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
It’s roped off just below where the chair reaches a ridge and changes pitch i guess it is there to stop skiers who reach that point stopping to look down the pitch and getting hit with dangling skis from the lift.??
FAQ
Poster: A snowHead
